January 2012

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 19, 2012—Recent sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church such as the indictment of a Kansas City bishop and the criminal charge against a retired Brooklyn priest prove that the church’s work to eradicate the crisis is far from over and that some members of the church are still covering up allegations. What has the past decade taught us about the abuse, the abusers, the role of the church, and the work that remains?
 
First-of-its-kind Book
A new book answers these questions and many more, offering a wide range of positive and negative reactions. Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis, 2002-2012 scrutinizes a decade of action and promises by the church. It includes reflections from 20 leading national experts. The book provides a history of the most extraordinary decade of the Catholic Church in the United States and offers a blueprint Catholic leaders in other countries can follow to reduce the incidence of abuse in their religious communities and dioceses. The book contains insights from victims who share what happened, the resulting trauma, and how they worked to heal their invisible wounds.

Conference
Santa Clara University Psychology Professor Thomas Plante, Ph.D., and former FBI and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Child Protection executive Kathleen McChesney, Ph.D. are editors of the book. They, along with more than a dozen internationally renowned experts, will gather for a national conference on Friday, May 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Santa Clara University to learn and talk about the recent response of the United States Catholic Bishops and others. Schedule includes:

•    9:30 a.m. – Keynote Address from Tom Reese, S.J.
•    10:15 a.m. – Panel 1:  Reflections on the Dallas Charter
•    11:15 a.m. – Panel 2:  Reflections on Church Culture
•    12:15 p.m. – Press Conference (pre-registration is required; info below)
•    1:00 p.m. – Keynote Address from Karen Terry, Ph.D.
•    1:45 p.m. – Panel 3:  Reflections from Victims and Clergy
•    2:30 p.m. – Panel 4:  Reflections on Clergy Screening, Formation, and Treatment
•    4:00 p.m. – Panel 5:  Where Do We Go From Here?

Additional details about the conference, speakers, and panels are available online.

Media Pre-Registration
All members of the media planning to attend must submit the following information to dlohse@scu.edu by Friday, April 13:

•    Name, title, news organization, email, phone number
•    Copy of business card
•    Copy of photo ID from news organization
•    Editor’s name, email, and phone number
•    Freelancers who do not have a business card or ID from a news organization, must submit a signed letter from news organization’s editor. Letter must be on a company letterhead and contain editor’s email and phone number.

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse| dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121 O | 408-768-6898 C